A Certain Two Sides
by Percyfan1998
Summary: They're on two different sides in Academy City, each leading their own life how they see fit. Strange therefore how one incident changes all that. Features Touma x Kuroko x Mikoto x Touma.
1. A Certain Two Sides

_**A Certain Two Sides**_

 _September 16_ _th_

Kuroko Shirai winced a bit in pain as her wheelchair thudded against the stone sidewalk, jostling her whole body. She seethed as she rubbed her thigh tenderly to sooth the pain from the aggravated gunshot wounds she had received — courtesy of a fight against that sadistic Level Four Awaki Musijime.

She had thought that handling a bit of teleportation to get around would be harmless, but she relied on teleporting within inches or feet above where she went — to avoid any injuries — and the resulted hard landing courtesy of her wheelchair's wheels being inflexible caused incredible pain. "Seriously," she grumbled. "This is ridiculous, if only Uiharu was here…then I wouldn't be having this much trouble trying to get up here," she went on, referring to having to go up a series of stairs to get to a shopping center she was trying to reach.

Kuroko's Judgement friend, Kazari Uiharu had been called away to help with security control. Originally the flower head band wearing girl had wanted to stay with the pigtailed Level Four teleporter to help wheel her around as she did her shopping, but Kuroko insisted that Kazari had a duty to uphold, and so had made her reluctantly leave – she was kicking herself for having made that decision for them both.

"I really should've brought Sissy along…" she went on. "She could've wheeled me along, and then felt it in her hear to feel sorry for me, and then would want to do anything to make me feel better! Hehe…" she cackled, thinking of all the different things she could make Sissy do for her. After all, she thought, Sissy couldn't ignore her whilst she was handicapped. She was just thinking of how to make the Level Five help her strip her clothes off—

— SMASH! —

"Agh!"

"Eee!" Kuroko jumped in surprise, it sounded like whoever it was got pretty hurt. She wheeled around to see if there were any serious injuries – her worries disappeared as soon as she saw who it was.

"Ugh…erg…rotten luck," muttered a familiar face. Kuroko's countenance became that of a scowl as she took in 'troglodyte.'

Meanwhile, Touma Kamijou tenderly rubbed his face after his face plant. As he stood up, he caught site of a wheel chair, and attached, a certain Judgement officer. "Oh hey, Shirai," he said greeted half-heartedly. She didn't answer him, and all he got was a huff after she turned her head away from him. Touma sighed, and looked spitefully at the soda can he had tripped over. "The people of Academy City must not know how to throw their own trash away," he mused.

Kuroko looked over and tutted disdainfully at the sight of the can. "It is utterly uncalled for them to do that."

"Yeah…" said Touma. He sighed as he rubbed his head. Kuroko took note that he was carrying some bags with him.

"Going shopping?" she inquired.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I gotta buy some new cutlery and food…" He sighed, the only reason he needed new cutlery was because Index had managed by some grace of God to horribly smash up and mangle his cooking tools. On top of those expenses he also had to buy her and Meigo Arisa food for dinner, he didn't look forward to knowing how far that would set his monthly budget back. "No doubt," he added, "they'll be expensive to buy, just my luck."

"Er — um — good luck with that," replied Kuroko, Touma didn't answer back, he just laughed dryly before turning around to do his business, with her too wheeling off into the mall…

 **O** o **O** o **O**

The Level Four smiled, but also did her best to hide her exhaustion from the concerned onlookers. She may have been young and full of energy, but having to rely solely on her arms to wheel herself around, on top of picking out what she needed to buy, had in fairness, somewhat tired her out. She had finished her shopping at a perfume shop and wheeled herself out. She sighed and allowed her composure to give in to exhaustion once she thought she couldn't be seen.

She grumbled as she attempted to hang the bag on top of her other lingerie and hair care product filled bags. She ended up having to leave the wheelchair, it didn't hurt that much, but having to push herself around had taken a strain.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…I can handle cleaning up whole swimming pools, fight Level Upper enhanced Espers, deal with the mental strain of knowing countless students that were in a coma relied on you to help them wake up, autonomous robots, yet I can't even deal with a little bit of physical pain…?"

She finished seething and collapsed into her wheelchair and went out. She winced at the sight of the stairs. She thought about teleporting, but the feeling of the wounds on her thigh and rib cage told her otherwise…

"Need help, Shirai?" came a voice.

The girl in question jumped and craned her neck to look up at Touma. Said teen had a ragged, yet concerned look in his eyes. His hands were weighed down by bag filled with ladles, cooking spoons, and a carving board, a new pair of cooking chopsticks, along with another that had green onions, noodles, bok choy, carrots, and packages of meat.

Kuroko thought about her situation, he had saved her when she was down and beaten up, but she knew she was strong and independent, and certainly didn't want to be pitied by the likes of him. "I certainly do not, thank you very much," she retorted, turning away from him with a smirk.

"Then why are you hesitating to go down then?" Kuroko's eyebrow and confident smile twitched at his blunt call out.

"What are you talking about? I am perfectly capa—"

"You don't need to hide the pain. You're obviously still reeling from that fight you had, you don't have to be so strong all the time. Don't be afraid to ask for help, Shirai. It's not as though I'm in a rush to get home or anything." Kuroko wanted to fight back, but couldn't deny the fact that she had been read like a book. She looked down at the sidewalk far away and conceded.

"Fine! I'll let you help me. My doctor has forbidden me from using my ability to get around anyways, and you just happen to be around. So get to it!" she snapped.

Touma sighed and looked at his heavy bags. "Do you mind making room then?"

"Fine," said Kuroko. She took her underwear bags and placed them on her lap.

Touma pushed her down the ramp; as he did, he spoke again, asking, "Hey Shirai, are you going home or do you need to do more shopping?"

"I was planning to go home. Why?"

"All right," replied Touma, and began to push her to the left.

"Huh?" asked Kuroko. But he didn't respond, and he kept with pushing her. "Uh…where are you going?"

"Taking you back to your dorm, that's where."

"Wait, huh?"

Touma could only smile in amusement at her seemingly ignorant response. "You're not going anywhere else, besides, you're no good at hiding the pain."

"I can handle myself!"

"Sure…" replied Touma, his tone seeping with sarcasm. "It's not as though I didn't see you struggling to move along. It's not that you're weak, but there's no need to exert yourself if someone else can do the work for you."

" 'Someone else can do the work for you', huh?" repeated Kuroko. _Yeah right, tell that to Saten…_

"Of course, this is Academy City after all, a place…"

"…where eighty percent of its population is made up of students," they finished at the same time. Both students flinched at the synchrony. "Anyways," continued Touma, "we're all just kids, doesn't hurt to help each other out and get involved if someone needs help."

"But what if it isn't your place to help out?" questioned Kuroko. Touma paused, his thoughts drifted off to a conversation he had on a certain iron bridge with a certain young Tokiwadai girl…

"It's never about if someone needs help or not," he answered. "If someone needs help, you help, simple as that."

"Oh really?" said Kuroko. "Sounds rather more like vigilant behavior to me than just."

"You make it sound like it's a crime to help whenever there is trouble…"

Kuroko scoffed. "It's a problem when one over pushes themselves too much without any proper plan," she claimed, unaware of her own irony just a day ago. "Take Sissy for example, every time she gets into a scuffle with some nasty ruffians, she zaps them without thought! And it's always before I can apprehend the vermin myself." Touma choked and seriously questioned if Kuroko would ever show up to defend him if Mikoto attempted to electrocute him. "She's always 'zap people senseless first and ask questions later'. What to do with her sometimes…well she is Tokiwadai's electrifying Ace…"

"Yeah right, Misaka acts more like a crazy bug-zapper than a refined young lady." Touma's expression hardened once he realized he let that slip out.

"What?!" cried Kuroko. "A 'bug zapper'?! You really are a good for nothing troglodyte, aren't you?"

Touma sighed. "Eh…look, it's not my fault she always lets her electricity loose whenever she sees me. It's just my rotten luck to have a Middle School girl harassing me on top of everything else…"

 _Geez, I guess you really aren't all that smart after all if you can't notice_ why _she zaps you_ , thought Kuroko. "That's Sissy for you," she said out loud. "That said it's not as if she doesn't mean well. She hates conflict, so if there's anyone she'll really let loose on, it's troublemakers."

"I…guess I know what you mean," replied Touma, as he turned the wheelchair around a corner. "No matter the intentions, there's no denying that a lot of people go about things the wrong way and hurt people needlessly. People like that make me sick…all in the name of what they believe in."

"Hmm-hmm, people just like Ms. Harumi Kiyama."

"Who now?"

"Are you serious?" Kuroko asked, looking back at Touma. "Does news about a woman being behind the Level Upper fiasco ring any bells?"

Touma's mind raced, he had no clue what Kuroko was talking about, leaving him to assume that was an event from before his memory wide, he nervously asked when the event was. "Really now?" chided the Teleporter. "It was in the middle of July or so you simpleton."

"Huh, sorry, guess I had too much going on at the time to notice that — had a lot of things going on." Touma sighed to himself — Kuroko just had to chastise him with events before July 28th when he awoke with no memories of his episodic life.

Kuroko groaned. "A lot of things going on?" she repeated. "If you want to know a busy life, join Judgement, _then_ you will know busy."

"Yeah, that's not really for me…" replied Touma. "I busy myself with…other occupations." _Mainly a starving Nun and her crazy English Puritan friends…_

"You're sure? Hmm, come to think of it though, you _do_ seem to live a hectic life." Touma sighed at the epiphany. "Tell me something — at the start of this month you were somehow involved with fighting that terrorist in the Underground Mall, just what were you doing, and why did you have that Nun with you?"

Touma froze, and remembered that Kuroko and Mikoto had both been there when he and Index had stumbled over each other, and when he declared that he would stay behind because he could deal with the issue. "Um…well…she's a good friend, and I was accompanying her and her new friend," replied the boy, as he sweated profusely.

 _Just a friend, huh?_ Thought Kuroko, as she recalled how flustered her Sissy was when the Nun called Index questioned Mikoto over her relationship with Touma. "Now answer this since you avoided it," Kuroko went on. "Why did you decide to jump into helping Anti-Skill with apprehending that terrorist?"

"Well…uh…" Touma blanked, if he remembered correctly, Sherry Cromwell has somehow sent a message to him and the two girls through some kind of magic spell. "I…had a hunch where I felt I could help them out in dealing with the terrorist," he said as smoothly as possible. "And as a matter of fact I successfully helped in that situation as I believe you saw me in the aftermath of that incident with the crumbled rocks."

"Hmm…" murmured Kuroko. "That is a fact." She went silent for a bit, she didn't know that the woman she had fought had been a magician. "Still though, there are a lot of other things that I can question you about."

"Damn it," groaned the High Schooler under his breath.

"Hey, Troglodyte, stop here," said the Middle Schooler authoritatively. Touma did so and saw where Kuroko was looking. It was a café shop, and from what he could tell it was one of the expensive ones that sold tapioca drinks, among other confectionaries. "Go get me something to eat and drink."

"W-what…? You want me to pay for your food?! Ugh, just my luck…"

"Tch, I didn't say that _you_ were paying for it," said Kuroko scornfully. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her wallet. Touma couldn't help but stare enviously as how nice it looked — and plus, it was filled with money. The young lady pulled out twenty-five hundred yen, handed it to him, and gave him the names of what she wanted. He flinched at how expensive they sounded. "And whilst you're at it you can buy something for yourself," she added. He stared. "What? What I want isn't that expensive."

He blinked, and went inside, bracing himself to see how much her drink would cost. Kuroko meanwhile took the time to lean back in her chair and stretched.

 **O** o **O** o **O**

When Touma came back, he supplied Kuroko with her change, cakes and estranged tea related tapioca drink. He himself bought a plain chocolate one with tapioca, plus a normal lemon cake. _If Index knows I had these, she'll really try to bite my head off…_

"Sheesh Shirai," said Touma once he started pushing. "Fifteen hundred yen for your stuff alone — fifteen hundred, the tea was the priciest out of all of them!"

"Sheesh Kamijou," mimicked Kuroko. "I shall spend my money however I want to. What, do you seriously not have enough funds just to afford these luxuries?" Kuroko knew that even if he said it was because he said 'Level Zero' — for whatever reason, surely, she thought, a guy who couldn't be teleported by her was just a Level Zero — it wouldn't be that. Her friend Saten was a Level Zero herself, yet she is financially stable.

"It's because I'm a Level Zero," said Touma, causing Kuroko to choke slightly on her drink. He quickly patted her on the back. "That and my folks have my finances on a tight leash," he added, he certainly didn't want to tell the Judgement Officer about how he was also supporting a teenage Nun and cat at his place. That and it was topped off by his numerous hospital stays, plus Arisa.

"Does your family not get enough to get by and to support you here?" asked Kuroko, slightly alarmed once she found her voice.

"Yeah no, that's not the case. Most of it gets spent by my dad during his business trips. Plus we aren't _that_ well off. Unlike you girls at Tokiwadai…" he added, with an exaggerated look of despair that the Teleporter couldn't see.

"Okay…AND WHAT THE HELL!?" she suddenly shouted. "How is it that you're just a Level Zero?! Surely you can't be if you were able to prevent me from teleporting you."

"As I said to you before," said Touma, sucking on his straw, "or rather before you interrupted me back then, it has to do with my right hand — it can negate anything supernatural with a touch."

Kuroko blinked, surely it couldn't have been that simple, but her brain already felt overworked and exhausted so she let it slide. "Weird," she said, and went back to munching on her cake.

Touma yawned, and proceeded to eat his lemon cake, he was glad that Index was nowhere to be seen, and that Mikoto also wasn't around to let her temper off on him. Everything else may have been too much to test faith on. They continued on, all whilst Kuroko silently seethed — she hated the stares and mutters of people they were passing as she was pushed along, and she hated the one pushing her. She couldn't figure what his deal was.

"If it's all the same to you," she said, suddenly breaking the silence, "I'm returning to the questions." Her chaperone gave a sigh. "How is it that you came to know Sissy? She doesn't get around much in the social department, how did you know her?"

For the second time in their encounter, Touma winced from the questions. It annoyed him how some of her questions concerned events before the 28th, he truly only ever remembered his first notable encounter with Mikoto when she had given him grief at the vending machine, at a stretch he could say her going off on him at the Tokiwadai Dorms during an open house day. "Um…well…" he faltered. "...she started out by fighting me around the city. She hated that I can hold my own against her."

"Ugh…" the Teleporter groaned. "That's just like her, any chance she gets and she decides to fight. So un-lady like of you, Sissy, I almost feel bad for you…however," she paused impressively. "You yourself act as if you aren't opposed to hanging around with Sissy, let alone be involved in her affairs."

"Huh?"

"On August 20th I saw you and Sissy together in the park, and she was completely normal compared to the days before where I noticed that she was worried about something. Then the next day you came to visit our dorm, clearly knowing something of what Sissy was dealing with as you came to ask her about it," said Kuroko. She left out however that she had a sneaking suspicion of what Mikoto had been stressing about. Awaki Musijime had been useful in that regard, something about clones, but to avoid upsetting the Ace of Tokiwadai, Kuroko wisely kept what little information she had to herself. "Clearly you knew what was wrong — so what was it?"

"That's Misaka's secret to keep and reveal if she wants, not mine," answered Touma, staring off into the sky. "Besides, I don't know all the details exactly either; it was her ordeal, not mine."

"A fair answer," she said, feeling slightly impressed. _Darn it!_ _I was so close to figuring what you were doing Sissy! Why didn't you ever turn to me for help, but let him help?!_ She screamed inwardly, sucking angrily on her straw, she then aggressively chewed on the tapioca balls.

All the while Touma kept up with pushing the wheelchair, he felt much better with food in his stomach, and the typical late summers wind lifted his spirits. "Y'know, despite all of the darkness that exists in this world, it is amazing how beautiful it can look at the same time," he said, thinking about everything he had seen and experienced since he awoke with a new chapter. Necessary Evil Churches, the Roman Orthodoxy, the Sisters' Experiment, Hyouka Kazakiri, 'Kamijou Faction'…all of it in some way was shrouded in a darkness that was extremely frightening, yet everything still seemed fine and looked as beautiful as though nothing could ever be lost.

It was that bright spark that he saw amidst it all that gave him hope and made everything he had fought for so far well worth it, be it magic or science.

Kuroko couldn't tell under what context Touma was thinking about, but somehow the words resonated with her. "I…guess so," she conceded. "This world isn't perfect, though I guess you already know that. There's so much to it that makes it evil, those blasted Kiharas, the misguided Dr. Kiyama, STUDY, radicals…my Dorm Mistress," she paused before shuddering, "…Mitsuko Kongou."

"That's a new name on me."

"Good, never learn that one," said Kuroko as she bit down on the last of her cake. "But you're right as well," she went on, looking around at the happy smiles on people's faces, birds flying, and the lush green trees. "There is a lot of beauty in this world too. So much to fight for, Sissy's happiness, the general well-being of the students here in Academy City, the prospect of your first time…hehe…"

Touma flinched at the implications of that statement coming from a Middle School girl. Kuroko meanwhile drooled at her own perverted thoughts of a certain female's figure. "…but all the same," she added, sobering up a bit. "A lot of beauty to fight for — much like fighting for the peace I love so much." She paused to think. "Speaking of which, that brings me on to a final question of mine — why did you help me that night in the restaurant? You don't know me…I didn't even want anyone to save me, if any one did, they would've been killed by the 4,520 kilograms that Musijime was about to teleport onto me. Why did you risk yourself like that?"

The High Schooler gave a small smile, remembering an impersonating Aztec magician. "I met a guy who likes Misaka, and I promised him that I'd protect Zapper and her whole fragile world from any harm." He smiled at her. "And that'd include you, Shirai. Misaka looked pretty concerned that night once she realized you were involved, there was no way she could rescue you and herself when that teleportation portal from the eleventh dimension was about to open up. Besides, as if I'd standby and watch you get flattened."

The Teleporter blinked and looked down at the sidewalk beneath her. "How noble of you, troglodyte. Very altruistic thing to do for someone you don't know."

The teenager smiled, but didn't respond, he just allowed the silence to speak for itself, leaving Kuroko to mull over his words.

She soon felt their momentum come to a halt. She looked up and saw that they had made it to the Tokiwadai Dormitory. "And here you are," said Touma.

Kuroko was about to thank Touma for his help, when a girl with short brown hair yelled out. "Hey, what are _you_ doing here?!" Kuroko craned her neck to see her beloved Sissy scowling in her direction.

"Oh, hey Zapper," greeted Touma. His tone was mono.

Mikoto gritted her teeth, sparks were emanating from her hair at the use of the nickname. "Why you…"

"Sissy…" And before Mikoto could check her, Kuroko teleported in front of her and stood up. "Oh Sissy, it's been too long since I've laid eyes on your gorgeous face!" cried the Level Four enthusiastically.

"Wha…?! Kuroko, get away from me!" squealed Mikoto in surprise, feeling completely embarrassed. Touma watched the interaction with a bored look on his face. He turned around to leave, but the Railgun saw fit to stop him.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled, she forcefully pushed Kuroko away from her and into the other girl's wheelchair. "What's this I hear about you housing Arisa at your place?!" she thundered.

Touma winced, but Mikoto didn't give him a chance to reply as she sparked dangerously before firing a thunderbolt towards Touma.

"No, Sissy!" yelled Kuroko, worried for Touma's sake if he got electrocuted by Tokiwadai's Ace. But Touma quickly threw out his right hand, which to Kuroko's surprise negated the electricity as the sound of breaking glass rang out and the electricity dissipated.

Mikoto panted. "Why you…!"

"Gah! Rotten luck!" cried Touma, and he quickly turned round to run away.

"Why you…!" She tried to go after him, but Kuroko's wheelchair appearing in front of her stopped her.

"Aww Sissy! Poor Kuroko is handicapped, yet you pay more attention to that troglodyte than me," she whined. All the while Touma quickly made his escape.

Mikoto yelled at him, but was unable to pursue her quarry as Kuroko had her arms wrapped around her waist and was pulling down. Eventually, the Electromaster gave up and gave in to the Teleporter's cries and hugged her back.

"Ah," said Kuroko, satisfied when returned to her seat. "That felt good."

"Say," said Mikoto. "Just what were you doing with that idiot anyways?"

"He was helping me back here after I finished my shopping," said Kuroko indifferently. "We talked, and I honestly don't see what you see in him. He's a bland ape with no refinement, and his memory of what goes on here in Academy City is truly pitiful. I just don't understand what you see in him, Sissy. All I can see is that he can block your electricity and…" she trailed off as realization struck her — her calculations unable to teleport her when touching him, Awaki's portal.

"SATEN'S URBAN LEGEND ABOUT A BOY WITH THE POWER TO NEGATE OTHERS WAS TRUE!"

 **O** o **O** o **O**

 **Author's Notes:** And with that, there's my first ever contribution to the A Certain Magical Index fandom! Hope what I've done is good enough as I feel quite out of place in the 'A Certain' community given that my only exposure to the franchise has been through the anime as I've never read the novels, or the side mangas. In addition, I literally only happened across this series during this summer.

Hope you all enjoy!


	2. A Certain Sequence of Events

_**A Certain Sequence of Events**_

The posy of friends that was Mikoto, Kuroko, Kazari Uiharu, and Ruiko Saten were sat at their usual meet up location that was one of the Josephs family restaurants that populated Academy City.

Eventually the Railgun felt nature calling, so she left her friends to relieve herself. That was when the trouble began.

"So," began Ruiko once she was sure Mikoto was out of earshot, "have either of you noticed that Misaka seems a bit distracted?"

"How do you mean?" quipped Kazari.

"Well, y'know…" went on Ruiko, she waved her hands about the air as if trying to make the appropriate words come to her. "It's kinda like, she's here, but then her thoughts are drifting off to somewhere else, it's as if she has something big coming up that she's raring to come to her already."

Kuroko audibly scoffed in annoyance. Both Sakugawa students looked to their pigtailed friend. "Well?" asked Ruiko. "Come on Shirai, you know something. Spill it."

"Ugh…" she groaned. "As you know the Daihaseisai Festival was a few days ago, but ever since that week, Sissy's been talking in her sleep." She growled, and her fist clenched up. "She's been doing that day and night…in daylight she could suddenly start dreaming off whether she's in class, lying down, or any time where there isn't something distracting her she just gets this look in her eyes…" Her own eyes narrowed as she trailed off.

"What's it about?" asked Kazari, slightly worried if Mikoto was having emotional trouble.

"Something about a Penalty Game and how someone lost it," said Kuroko.

" 'Penalty Game'…?" asked the two black haired girls.

"It is where someone loses a bet, and they have to do whatever the winner says for an allotted time period — usually said game only lasts a day." Her mood turned darker. "Whoever it is has stolen Sissy's heart…"

"Wait…" said Ruiko, as mischievous thoughts entered her mind. "Someone who's stolen Misaka's heart…? Was it perhaps…a boy?" she asked slyly.

"Yeah," muttered the Teleporter absentmindedly, having not picked up on Ruiko's tone. "An ape of a man who'd jump in to save you for no particular reason other than that he feels like being a hero and because he can…he's without reason, easily incapacitated and a complete idiot." She rustled and straightened her back. "Aka that mysterious boy who can cancel out an Espers powers you were talking about."

"What, no way!?" squealed Ruiko, standing up. "He exists?"

"Isn't that what I said?" replied Kuroko as she slumped back down and idly drew circles on the table. "A dirt poor monkey with no powers, absurdly misfortunate, stubborn, hair that looks like he's a common manga protagonist, and he's stupidly sentimental and kind…" and with that, her hand that was circling curled up into a fist.

Ruiko and Kazari stared in shock when they noticed that Kuroko's cheeks had a slight hint of red. They exchanged a look, as though they were asking for reassurances from the other if what they had seen was a dream. Kazari was the first to ask, and quickly motioned with her eyes towards her Judgement partner, and with sweat beading down her head, Ruiko just nodded.

It was then that Mikoto returned. "Well then, what's all this?" she asked.

"Um…we were just talking," said Kazari as she stiffened.

"About…?"

"Nothing," said Kuroko bluntly. Mikoto was taken aback and turned to her. "Nothing for you to be concerned about, Sissy."

"Hold on…"

"Y-y-yeah…just small stuff, not much to hear there, Misaka," Ruiko stammered. The Railgun narrowed her eyes, and was about to question their answers…when her phone rang out.

She quickly grabbed it. "Hello?" she asked. The voice on the other end said something hurriedly. "Wait…so it happened just as I thought…?" asked Mikoto, her lips curling upwards to smile. "Nothing ever good comes to him, does it…? What's that? No, I didn't want him to get hurt intentionally, I-I just knew it would happen, that's all…no! I didn't want him to get hurt! I told you, I just _knew_ – err –predicted something would happen…anyways, you gave him my message, right? Good, thanks…" as she said those words, her friends observed in utter astonishment as a dreamy, blushing, dumbstruck faraway look came into her eyes. "…Of course. Well it isn't like what I plan will send him back to you. If anything it'll be by something completely unrelated… all right, thanks, bye." And she hung up.

Then she sat back down, completely unaware of the look her friends were giving her as she went back to sipping on her straw. Eventually she became aware of the tension - from where her head was leaned over her eyes darted from Ruiko to Kazari, and noticed both were visibly tense. "What is up with you two?" she asked, before straightening up and offering a kind smile. "We're just eating sweets. Is there something the matter?"

"No…nothing," said Ruiko as she tried to keep it together.

" _It's just we're shocked that you have someone who you'd want as a boyfriend!_ " cried Kazari unexpectedly as she slammed her hands onto the table and stood up.

"Uiharu!" scolded Ruiko. Kazari blushed and quickly sat back down.

"B-boyfriend?!" cried Mikoto, her face going red with embarrassment. "I – well…" She quickly shook her head and steeled her heart, an action she was used to doing. "I don't have anyone like that, he's just a friend." Immediately Mikoto began fiddling with her straw, glaring with blushing embarrassment and fury at the ice cubes.

Kuroko leaned in to her left hand, distancing her head from her Sissy's, and looked at her through seemingly bored but focused eyes. _I just cannot fathom what you see in him, Sissy_ , she thought.

O **o** O **o** O

Kuroko saw Troglodyte and Sissy together a few days later. All students starting that week had changed into their mandatory winter uniforms, so it was forgivable that the initial impression she got when she saw Touma fanning Mikoto whilst he was on one knee as something akin to a master and servant relationship. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that, and feelings arose out of it.

One, she felt enraged that Troglodyte saw himself as a worthy servant of her Sissy. She based her claim on that it sounded like Mikoto was angry with him for suddenly fanning her skirt – how one measly folder could whip up a current strong enough to do that was an entirely different matter.

Two, she hated how she wasn't the one doing the fanning. The chance to be the one to cause Mikoto's short skirt to wave around in such a matter was one not to be missed! Even if she knew there were shorts underneath…

And so, without warning, she quickly grabbed her own folder, and promptly kicked up a gust of her own. How she avoided nose bleeding afterwards was a mystery.

Though she still wondered how she would've felt if her skirt had been the one being fanned at…something about seeing him on his knees like that evoked something.

O **o** O **o** O

Academy City was hard to call dull, that was for certain. In the span of a week all Hell seemed to be on the loose. First most of the city suddenly passed out suddenly, a member of the Governing Board was shot at, members of anti-skill pronounced dead at a plant, some of the cities infrastructure was somehow destroyed – some looking as though they had been chucked. Second, Skill Out had seemingly been the victim of some mercenary job, then the Dangai University Database was under siege from Skill Out trying to kill Mikoto Misaka's mother.

Kuroko Shirai could only massage her head to sooth her growing migraine as she finished speaking with one of Anti-Skills officers on what the situation at had been. As Judgement was a lower ranked but still vital outfit for protecting the wellbeing of the city, it was natural that the student ran organization was obliged to assist in the cleanup and damage control at Dangai.

It was rather bizarre – her Sissy's mother had been at the database when Skill Out suddenly attacked. Apparently two strangers had helped her escape. In the aftermath, many of the surviving Skill Out members had been arrested. But worst of all, according to eye witness reports, one of the helpful strangers had been a somewhat short High School male with spikey black hair…she only knew one male like that.

The Judgement officer sighed, teleported back to her headquarters, and sorted out the necessary paperwork for the incident alongside Kazari, and both had to juggle the new papers, parallel to the ones built up over the past few days. After she finished, she realized it was late afternoon – she stared with discontent at the mountain of unfinished paperwork.

"Never mind that," said Mii Konori, the head of the 177th branch. "You two have done enough paper filing for one day I should think. Go out and enjoy your evening. But be here on time tomorrow, you here?" The two girls muttered their thanks and left the building.

Kazari had personal business to take care of, leaving Kuroko to herself. She looked at the time, and then at her phone. She sighed. "Might as well visit the hospital," she grumbled.

O **o** O **o** O

She waited right by the automatic doors with her arms crossed in front of her chest, leant back with eyes closed in deep thought. At last the doors opened, and she saw who she was after.

"Ugh…what to do about dinner…" muttered one Touma Kamijou as he left the hospital that he consistently frequented almost every month.

"About time," said Kuroko suddenly. This frightened Touma, who whirled round, shocked to see the pigtailed teleporting girl.

"Wait, y-you were waiting for me?!"

"Well yes."

"Why in Hell would you do that…?" he asked with a deadpanned expression. He then began to walk away.

"I saw Anti-Skill's report about the incident at Dangai University," explained Kuroko as she followed him. "I saw that you were one of the strangers that saved Sissy's mother, and that you were injured after fighting with that Hamazura guy."

"Okay, so what of it?"

Kuroko felt a strange mixture of disbelief and a pang of heat overcome her heart. "Well I had to check on you after finding that out – to make sure you are okay," she replied with a straight face.

"Thanks for that," said Touma, smiling genuinely at her. The teleporter swore a strange comfortable feeling overcame her chest as he said that.

"That's not the only reason…gives me the opportunity – seeing as you're just coming out of hospital – to ask you more questions as to the strange happenings that's been going on around here."

"Of course that's why you'd seek me out," Touma lamented dramatically as he dropped his head.

"H-hey, it is not as if I'm looking to hurt you!" Kuroko sighed when the teen didn't react to her response. Not that it was blamable. "Anyways…strange things started to occur allegedly after our last chat. Arisa went missing – you…got dragged around by Sissy during the Daihasei Festival, among other things…" She shook her head, remembering a long complicated series of events. "Then suddenly, majority of this city falls asleep and awakes to chaos. You always seem involved."

"Nothing short of coincidence," replied Touma dryly. "I just do what I can to help those I care about."

 _A typical and expected answer of you_ , Kuroko thought. She knew there was little use in trying to confront him on the subjects any further. "So…" she continued. "Sissy's mother, quite the gal, isn't she?"

"Erm…yeah, I guess. Very eccentric," said the boy cautiously.

"You pulled quite the risk back there," said Kuroko. "Shiage Hamazura has a bit of a reputation for his brashness. It was quite a brave action, that you, a Level Zero like them, would oppose them and actually win."

Touma's complexion sweated a bit and he looked down and her with a nervous and mystified expression. "Um…thanks. It was no trouble, really, just ordinary humans like us with easy weaknesses to physical altercations."

"Yes, but still brave considering they were all armed, and their testimonies said you only went in with a crowd shield and your fists." Touma just chuckled, rubbed the back of his neck, and fell silent. Kuroko sighed and looked ahead of where they were walking, and saw that there was a bun vendor nearby. She swore that as they got nearer, she heard his stomach growling, and got an idea.

"Hey, how about I get us some food? My treat, okay?" And before he could protest, she hurried over to get some of the bread. She came back a minute later and shoved a big sugar coated treat into his arms. His eyes bulged at the sight. "Go on, eat up," she said with a big soft smile.

Before Touma could make a quip, Kuroko began to sink her teeth into hers – she sighed contentedly, a sugary, carb rich treat after work was what she sorely needed. Touma smiled, amused by her various hums of happiness and went to eat his.

They continued to walk along as they munched, Kuroko following Touma, assuming her knew the way to wherever he needed to go. As they did, she kept noting down his own hums as he gratefully bit down on his share of the food. "Thanks for this, Shirai," he eventually said after a while, as he finished the last strands of his snack. "Ah! I needed that."

The little girl felt a strange tingle overcome her nerves when he said that, somehow the receding sunlight created an oddly intimate mood and look to Touma's countenance as he smiled down at her. She couldn't help it, her small stature forced awe to flood her mind as she observed the male before her. She gulped the last bit of bread down, and felt her throat go dry.

She licked at her lips to moisten them before responding. "You're welcome," she said with uncharacteristic softness. Touma just smiled.

"Thanks," he remarked. He then noticed where they were. "Ah, there's the mart I wanted to go to. Tomorrow's the last day of their sale, but I better take advantage of it before they take it down." He turned to Kuroko. "See ya around, Shirai!" And he jogged off across the street.

"Eh?! Whoa, that was quick…" she muttered. She was surprised at how she didn't feel mad that he left her, instead it was…peaceful, things felt calmer…

…and then Sissy walked out of the nearby manga café.

"Oh, Sissy!" she called excitedly. Mikoto froze up, and turned around. She panicked.

"Oh, K-Kuroko…" she stammered, and braced herself.

Kuroko walked calmly toward her. "How are you this evening? Things well?"

"Oh, um, things are well," she said, shocked by the calm approach of her normally perverted roommate. "Although," she added as she began to walk away, "the news recently has been alarming. People all over Europe just senselessly fighting…"

"Oh, oh yes – indeed," quipped Kuroko. "A shame that. I'm sure things will look up soon though."

Mikoto didn't respond as another thought crossed her mind. _I wonder how that idiot's been…he_ still _hasn't responded to my texts…n-not that I need him too…! I just…I can't help but feel as well that he might know something about these recent protests…_

O **o** O **o** O

 **Author's Note:** You all wanted it, so here you go – a second chapter! Definitely crossing the Touma x Kuroko line on this one, wasn't even intended to this extent, but it just fell that way. This is one of those fics where I don't actually know if there'll be a concrete end strangely enough.

Anyhow, got this ready for you all in honor of the last episode of Index III going up today. What an arc – I loved it!


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